A wide variety of services depend upon the reliable delivery of electrical energy in order to operate efficiently. A wide variety of appliances all rely upon external electrical energy provided by electrical power networks. Consequently, when the network in unable to provide electrical power a variety of infrastructure problems result.
A wide variety of problems lead to a failure to deliver electrical power in a network. In order to provide a flexible solution that supports the bypassing of non-functional power lines it is beneficial to employ an electrical power network with substantial redundancy. Unfortunately, this redundancy often leads to extremely complex network topologies. The complexity of these topologies in turn leads to difficulty in identifying failed components within electrical power network as well as difficulties in safely and efficiently returning power to customers that experience power failures.